Black Man 101: Déjà Jim Crow All Over Again For African-American Parents and Their Sons

Are you familiar with “Black Man 101″? Black men never get to graduate from this constantly changing and mandatory course in survival and behavior modification.

With the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer, the Black Man 101 curriculum has been revised again.

Terrance Heath

The unarmed teen’s shooting made millions of African-American parents realize that any of our sons could be the next Trayvon Martin. His killer’s acquittal illustrates how the rules have changed once more, turning the clock back.

As a parent, I’m a Black Man 101 professor as well as a lifelong student. All parents of African-American sons must have “The Talk.” We know too well the stories of unarmed African-American men beaten, brutalized, and killed by the police. Their names haunt us, their faces loom in our minds, and we imagine our sons being in their sons’ places.

So we tell our sons that, as young black men, they’ll be held as suspects and sometimes treated as criminals, even if they’ve clearly done nothing wrong. We tell them how to conduct themselves in encounters with the police so that they may emerge alive and unscathed. We steel ourselves for the question that always follows: Why?

From the moment our children are born, all parents work hard to keep them safe. You want them to feel safe. But, the parents of black boys have to flip the script at some point. We explain to our kids that the world is not a safe place for them in ways that it is for other people.

Black Man 101 students once learned “Jim Crow etiquette.” Their lives depended on being agreeable and non-challenging with white people, even when whites were in the wrong. Under no circumstances were they to even appear to assume equality with whites.

The acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer harkens back to those old deferential rules.

We already teach our sons to be “agreeable” and “non-challenging” with police. Must we now teach our sons to conform to some modern form of “Jim Crow etiquette”? Just teaching our sons how to behave when stopped by the police no longer suffices. Just as in the bad old days of lynching, they have to behave a certain way when they are confronted by anyone vested with self-declared authority.

Why must we now teach our sons to defer to all potential bigots who come their way? Yes, those bigots may be armed and inclined to start shooting. But why?

Last fall, my oldest son got his first hoodie. The moment he put it on and pulled the hood over his head, I saw Trayvon Martin’s face. I saw my son in Trayvon’s place.

He’s old enough to have heard about Trayvon. That led to an early version of “The Talk.” At the end came the inevitable question: “Why?”

I held my son close. I told him that some people only see the color of his skin and what they choose to project on him because of it.

It’s not fair. It just is.

The answer is as heartbreaking to give as it is to receive. It’s the moment when a child’s safe world is permanently shattered.

Now, having been acquitted of killing Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman not only has his freedom back, he’s got the gun he used to end that young man’s life.

As the father of two African-American boys, this is the stuff of nightmares. “The Talk” just got even harder to deliver. We not only have to tell our sons that they live in a world where the color of their skin makes them vulnerable. We have to tell them their killer could ultimately walk away a free man.

For our children, the world is neither safe nor just. That’s the ugly truth.

36 Responses for “Black Man 101: Déjà Jim Crow All Over Again For African-American Parents and Their Sons”

Yes they do. But can you tell me why it was widely reported on about every news source from Pravda to Fox that he went and got his gun back first thing after the verdict was handed down? Can you say inflammatory propaganda? Sure you can kids!

Do you not realizing that smoking dope, getting suspended from school, and not being supervised by parents is NOT just an issue in the black community? Are you that much of a bigot and racist that you fail to realize that issue is as prevalent (and maybe more so) in the white community than in the black community?

Just because someone does not look like you, does not make them a criminal because that is what you have been brought up to believe. The other day I witnessed an SUV speeding down the interstate at well over 100 mph, driven by a white female playing with her smartphone. After driving right past a state trooper who was parked on the grassy median, the trooper turned on his lights and proceeded to pull over the car behind me who was doing NOTHING wrong. This 80s model Cadillac was occupied by at least two young black men. We were on our way to Daytona in two cars to walk around the mall and meet up with some other friends.

So the cop pulls over the black man who is not breaking the law, and lets the white woman go who is obviously speeding and texting while driving. THIS is the problem with our society and law enforcement as a whole. This is just like the Bunnell police officer who shot an unarmed black teenager 6 or 7 times because he supposedly had a gun. When it turned out that this gun was in fact the kid’s cell phone……….they gave that cop a promotion! Also notice…..that the only person of color on the Bunnell PD is in an administrative position…….meaning there is not a single black officer on that department. Look out Bunnell PD. Every arrest you make can become about race.

So where in this comment does ” anonymous ” see the word or implication of any kind of race mentioned? And why is it that this is about race when it was never proven to be about race? And once again why does it alway have to be about race when there are two diferent races involved? would it be about race if the shooter were black and the victim black? It is very interesting that it always is about race when a black man is the victim and the shooter in this case is anything other than black. And just for the record Zimmerman is not 100% white guy either.

Excellent article. Too bad the “talk” has to take place anywhere on the planet ~ ever.
The saddest thing in all of this is that it exists only in the minds of some people who,
for one reason or another, were taught to hate differences. Even sadder is the fact
that there is no science, no emperical data exists that divides the people of the
planet earth into races ~ there is but one race on earth ~ the human race. I hope
and pray that humans get better. I worry for my children and grandchildren.
I want their world to be a better place where humans can all live in a world
that is civilized and united. A world where all men and women are equal and
equally respected.

This has never been about race. Zimmerman is a minority, or have you not payed attention to any of this stop this race baiting…this pulling the race card all the time is putting fuel on the race issues in this country. as I see it, the black leaders in this country are the ones baiting a RACE WAR….that includes the one at 1600 P. ave….stop it…..you are assuming that people are hunting blacks, this was terrible for both families and it’s sad…..you don’t even mention how many so called minorities are killing each other ever day…what’s up with that??? as far as I can tell, the white man is the minority in this country….you live in a very small bubble and you need to get out more….p.s. the democratic party is the party that has kept the black man down…now act like an AMERICAN and read the constitution and some history books…….they used to have klan meetings at the white house…I bet you never read that either….p.s.s. the white man has been enslaved the most in history……..it’s not about race here, it’s only about what happened on that unfortunate night that none of us will ever now…p.s.s.s.s. how can holder bring up civil rights charges against a minority…this country is completely ruined….I really suggest that you get with the black leaders in your community to figure out a way to get the federal government off of all our backs and stop holding all of us down by our necks…I have more, but I may have run out of space…..

Yeah well Trayvon had 4 full minutes to do so , but instead of going home he decided to run around the building and lay in wait for Zimmerman to come by they he sucker punched him and jumped on him and punched and beat his head into the concrete, and if he`d of stopped when John Good had come out and told him to or he`d call the cops , hed still be alive , but he continued to assault Zimmerman , Zimmerman was choking on blood from a damaged nose , stunned, never able to clear his head ,cause it was being bounced off cement,what the hell was he supposed to do perish???, when blacks stop acting violently towards their fellow man and that includes each other , cause more blacks kill blacks then anyone else , where`s that loud mouth, blow hard Al Sharpton when that happens, or like up in Jax on Sunday a 23 year old black male shot and killed 2 white people while robbing them as they came out of Golden Coral , or how bout the 16 year old that paralyzed a man for life ,shooting him 8 times over a cigarette, there`s pics out there of Trayvon with a gun in his hand, smoking dope , he was high that night , so lets stop making him out to be the 12 year old innocent they tried to portray him as for a year before the trial, if he gone straight home and not decided to beat Georges skull in he`d be alive , two investigations have cleared Zimmerman of any wrong doing except saving his own life, and if ten more juries found him innocent , the biggest racist in the world Al Sharpton would still shoot off his lying yap ………enough is enough already

I was very moved by this article. The writer opened his heart to hopefully help others gain some insight into his personal family life, and to the history of the struggle of his race in a discriminatory culture.

How very sad and painful to read the defensive, bigoted comments posted here. If it is this heart tearing for me, I can’t imagine how Mr. Heath feels. Why can’t some people be the least bit willing to consider a different point of view? I can imagine that a minister or psychologist would clearly see how such close minded, negative perspective damages the soul/spirit/heart. . . essentially limiting the potential for personal joy and happiness. How very sad that anyone carries such a burden. . . and I am not referring to Mr. Heath.

I have black friends, I voted for Obama twice, and I do feel bad for the way blacks have been treated , but I`m not talking about that , I`m talking about Trayvon deciding to confront Zimmerman with the intent of doing him harm, I watched the whole trial I saw all the evidence , it was cut and dry what happened and who was screaming for help, it didn t turn racial till Mr Crump , Al Sharpton , Jessie Jackson and the Black Panthers made it racial, today`s paper had three white men`s pics in it for various crimes and they should be locked up for yrs as well,its not just blacks, every race has their own bad, but when a white person is killed by a black, you don t here anything about racism or marchers with posters , the Hells Angels aren`t threatening black famly`s lives, the Martins and Al Sharton should be after the blacks that give their race a bad name, the ones committing the home invasions and robberies in that housing complex to begin with, they made it racial cause they were the ones robbing the place, Zimerman is Hispanic not white , so stop trying to start a racial riot when white people had nothing to do with any of it, except being victims of the home invasions and robberies committed by young black males, it is what it is , you can t polish a turd, make it something it isnt, Zimmerman wouldn t have been suspicious of Martin if not for the blacks robbing homes there and Trayvon should of just gone home , I feel bad for his parents , but I feel bad for George too , he took young black children into his home to help them in the past , he seems like a good person who will have nightmares the rest of his life over having to do what he did , it`s a no win situation for everyone involved but it was not driven by racial hate , especially when a white person wasn t involved , that is why I say enough is enough ,

Here’s the thing that bothers me about this whole angle of this discussion, the assumption that someone sees a certain color skin and assumes. I’m sure some of that happens today, but I don’t think it’s remiss to think that’s the majority. If you see someone walking around at night in your neighborhood, alone, face covered by a hood, hands in the pockets, jeans hanging off of the waist, etc. . . . what do you think? I don’t care if they are purple, that’s a suspicious person.

And we have plenty to be suspicious of today. Look at the senseless violence that takes place. Look at the break-ins that occur. Appearance does play a role, and so does attitude and how one personally conducts themselves. No, young man should lose his life this way. It’s tragic and unfortunate, but this was more about two charged up egos coming face to face as opposed to the color of someone’s skin. Is it a violation of one’s civil rights to assume the “crazy a– cracker” is following someone simply because of their race and assuming they are racist?

I watched an african-american gentleman reprimand Jessie Jackson on the news for making this solely about race. Good for him. People should be concerned about strangers following them. They should also teach their children about respectful presentation of themselves, and being respectful when speaking to others. It doesn’t give someone the right to kill another, but it sure can contribute to assumptions and confrontations that can lead to very bad situations.

Please understand this, you have the RIGHT to live with your fears and your suspicions, although these same suspicions never, ever apply to members of your own tribe, regardless of how many crimes they commit. Also understand that Trayvon Martin had the RIGHT to walk home, unchallenged, unquestioned and unmolested by the stranger who was following him. He had the RIGHT to try to defend himself against a perceived threat from George Zimmerman, whom he had never seen in his life before. We don’t know Zimmerman’s stance or tone of voice when he faced Trayvon; we only have his word that he was “sucker punched” in one of the three renditions of his story. You assert the events were the result of “two charged up egos coming face to face.” Why is it so hard for you to conceive the possibility that the kid might have truly been afraid of the stranger following him? Trayvon Martin, after all, was a lanky, skinny young teenager, not yet filled out, being challenged by an adult man who outweighed him by about 20 lbs. Remember, you are basing your judgement on only one side of the story; one self-serving side of the story. Trayvon Martin had a RIGHT to walk that street, unchallenged.

If, as you claim, this encounter was not about race, then why did ALL of George Zimmerman’s calls to the police reference black men, and how many of those black men he reported “looking suspicious” actually committed crimes in his development? What exactly was the arrest rate for the blacks he reported in his community? What about his comments referring to blacks in general while he was in hot pursuit of Martin? Not racist? Are those thoughts YOU would have voiced, too? Only you can answer that.

I have read alot of these opinion and thank you this was one of the good ones. What alot of people fail to mention is, why was Travon in a gated comunity when there was no reason for him to be there in the first place? That makes me more suspicious of his action more than anything.

so what do I tell my son? how do I teach him to be a respectful and respectable black man in a country that sees him as a constant threat?? do I teach him to stand up for himself as a man should or do I teach him to act timid and disarming so that the world can beat him down and treat him as if he is nothing just because of his skin?? his father is white, and so is my father. does that make my son and I less of a threat? when white people see us they still see black. my son is an honor student, as am I. does this mean we have to act uneducated to avoid being hunted in the darkness?? we cant take a walk in the dark because someone else has been robbing houses and since we aren’t white we look like suspects? unless we too are armed? arming ourselves makes us a double threat so now what? I love living in palm coast, I came here in 1986 to visit and to live permanently in 1988. I went to middle and high school here and my son starts high school this fall, I find myself keeping him near me in public places just so he doesn’t get accused of things he didn’t do that some less mannered (and probably white) kid may have done….he’s old enough to be unattended in malls, grocery stores etc but my son thinks I’m babying him, I cant explain to him that I am truly protecting his future because it is at this point so very fragile… why cant my son go around freely? because people will look at him and accuse him of something and I don’t need the drama so I cant let him go off on his own to explore and learn the world… what happened to freedom? Trayvon was doing what every 17 yr old boy should be able to do, walk to the store, get a snack and walk home, when he realized he was being hunted, he protected himself as a man should because his father was trying to teach him to be a man. if he had been a white kid from Flagler beach and Zimmerman had been a black man from Bunnell, Zimmerman would already be on death row… so my question is: what do I tell my son? I see the white and Russian kids around town, heavy in the drug trade, breaking into houses and cars, and then I take my son to a condo on the beach for a week and while I’m with him at the pool he gets acused of breaking a railpost by an angry white resident, I had to let her know that my son was with me and he didn’t do anything of the sort and what she didn’t know was, the white kids nearby were the ones who broke it… what do I tell my son? what does he say to the white lady screaming in his face? does he placate her? admit to it just so she leaves and he can finish swimming? how can he defend his skin in a country that readily condemns it? am I wrong when I, as an adult, a voter, and a parent, tell this woman to leave my child alone because all he is doing is swimming which he has the right to do? and when she continues to belittle my child at what point does my choking her become NOT self defense? and why do I have to defend my son when he didn’t do anything wrong? what do I tell my son???

A Single Black Mom with a Job and a Clue: Who is it that is making you and your son feel like second class citizens? You are not.

I don’t see him as a threat. I don’t see you any differently than I see anyone else. We teach our children to be respectful, as we were taught. Children raised in this way do not usually fall victim to getting into trouble. But if they do, they need to come to their parents, to their teachers.

Congratulations to your son for studying hard and being an honors student.

I wouldn’t walk in the dark because that’s where the trouble is. I had a curfew, my children have curfews. It wasn’t because he had to right to roam freely; it was because there is trouble when children are out alone. Children will find trouble if you give them too much freedom and no supervision.

Unfortunately, the world is full of bad people and they come in all colors and sizes. Teach your son that if something happens he needs to come HOME, and call 911. Know where he is at all times, WHO he is with. This is our job as parents, to keep our children safe.

You don’t sound as if you are doing anything wrong. But it is our job as parents to keep our children respectful, safe and out of trouble. Sounds to me like you’re raising a great kid.

This is exactly the problem…many of you cannot even see the point of view of an african american father and what black parents have to deal with when it comes to their children. How sad is that? How many of you even talk to your children about race? You probably don’t because if you are of light skin, you don’t even worry about these things. If you were black for one day, you’d see the ignorance. Every dark skinned person I know has experienced being followed around in a store, being looked at differently, having racial insults to you as a child and adult, being stopped by police, and worse.
If Trayvon Martin was a white kid, or a female, you’d all feel differently, you’d be outraged and you probably can’t admit that to yourselves. Plus, you forget, he was a child! How do you expect a child to react or handle some weird older guy following you around on a dark, rainy night? Out of fear, I’d pop him in the face too. (If it actually even happened that way…so odd that so many people just believe George Zimmerman’s version of the story…he’s the only one left standing, (of course, dead children tell no tales).

Trayvon had every right to be in that neighborhood, hood on, hands in pockets, pants however the hell he wanted to wear them. Why do people immediately think this is a profile for a suspicious person? I’ll remember that when I’m in my raincoat at night walking to the store in my neighborhood, I hope no one shoots me for that.
Zimmerman was the adult in this situation and he did not follow the rules of the Neighborhood Watch or what the 911 operator asked him to do. And why on earth didn’t Zimmerman identify himself? Because he thought he was as powerful as a police officer, thought he could just handle this himself like a big idiot. His ignorant actions caused this young man’s death, plain and simple. Zimmerman ASSUMED Trayvon was up to no good, assumed it because of the color of his skin.
What would have happened if he just called the cops and stayed in his car? Who out there would even follow someone they suspected as being a criminal? Zimmerman was stupid, irresponsible and ignorant, and unfortunately it resulted in a tragic loss for the Martin family.
I can only hope that Trayvon’s legacy will facilitate a shift in our thinking, an end to racial profiling, vigilante justice, and most of all, a bridge to peace, compassion and understanding.

Here’s an interesting comparison. 2009 Greece, NY. A black vigilante, Roderick Scott, shot and killed a 17 year old unarmed white teenager, Christopher Cervini, one rainy evening. According to the black vigilante, the teenager and a group of other boys were seen hanging around cars in the neighborhood they grew up and live in. The black vigilante pointed his gun at the boys and told them to stop. He said the boy he shot and killed advanced towards him in a threatening manner forcing him to shoot. The bullet that killed the teenager was the shot that was delivered to his back when he tried to run away. The black vigilante was found not guilty of manslaughter.

I heard about this case from a poster on Al Jazeera English. Funny thing is, I then went digging on the internet and came across very few media coverage of it except from the local Rochester newspapers and small social media discussions. Why the difference in coverage? And NY does not have the controversial ‘Stand Your Ground’ law.

No one is forced to conform to societal norms. That’s a choice people make. As a woman raising three young ladies, I am constantly giving them the talk on staying safe – choosing their friends carefully, dressing a certain way, carrying themselves a certain way, avoid walking in unsafe places, drugs/alcohol/STDs, and a host of other advice and warnings. And I don’t ever let them go out alone after dark. I could choose to ignore all the talks and just let them do as they please. Then I could just blame society when things turn out badly.

Liana–I commend your efforts as a responsible parent. However, it is a very sad state of affairs when ANY of our children, Black or White (or anything inbetween), have to overthink how they dress, how fast or slow they may be walking while being forced to keep their eyes straight ahead lest some paranoid over-reactionary like GZ imagines they may be looking into somebody’s window in order to case the joint. You would be very naive to think that Black people are not on the receiving end of these kinds of suspicions than White people are. Let me put it this way: If I were the parent of a daughter (as you say you are), and she happened to be walking to her car or into her apartment after a night out and she was raped before she coulld safely and snugly inside, I would not take kindly to somone defending her Rapist saying, “Well, what did she expect, an attractive young thing like her, walking aound out there in the open in makeup and an attractive dress, Boys will be boys.” I don’t think YOU would take kindly to it either. Blaming the vicitm is an old time-honored defense tactic that works all too well when it is applied to women and minorities. We need to be making more of an effort to be putting ourselves in the place of this victim and his family, if only because one day it MIGHT be us. No matter how much we instruct our children in a millions ways to stay safe, we cannot predict how every situation in the world will turn out for them. We can only try to make this world saner and safer for them and THEIR children. We don’t need any more George Zimmermans out there. And if you justify one of them, you justify many of them to come.

What’s alarming to me is that there were obvious inconsistencies in Zimmerman’s story, yet the image many people seem comfortable with, is that Trayvon was a bully and ran up on George. That’s the point that seems to be well missed by some. We don’t know how that whole escapade started, and even the defense spared many a detail in explaining exactly how it started, because they knew they didn’t have to.

The defense made their argument based on the fact that it didn’t even matter that GZ was the aggressor. If he wasn’t, why wasn’t a more clear picture drawn as to how GZ got from the top of the T to the place where Trayvon’s body and cell phone lay in the grass?

The reality is, legally speaking, GZ won, not because Trayvon was some aggressor thug, but because the defense said it didn’t matter how it started. It’s for that reason that it comes across bewildering and shocking that the most pronounced sentiment from the Zimmerman-is-innocent camp is that Trayvon was some kind of violent aggressor. What makes that so easy to believe for so many people?

I find the article very ignorant and some of the comments even worse. Why does everything have to do with race? Treyvon was not some small child, in some states he would be legally viewed as an adult. Using race as a crutch to lean on for your problems and misfortunes is no longer acceptable in my opinion. By doing so people are trying to turn back time instead of moving forward. Because people disagree with your opinion as a black man or woman does not make them bigots.

The authors of this article and a beautiful comment composed by “A Single Black Mom” have brought me to tears. Those who have really listened and commented in support, I sincerely applaud you. As for the rest, I am again sadly disappointed.

No child of any color, religious belief, financial background, physical or mental state, etc. should be subjected to living in fear, and the need to be supervised at all times. How does a child receive the sacred “freedom” to develop their independence, and mature into healthy, positive, caring, successful adults if they are required to live in a prison. . . one of constantly being afraid of their fellow human beings?

Is this really the world we are not only willing to accept, but one in which some are so condesendingly quick to chastise others for not practicing such fear mongering in their own families? Where does the rites of passage fit into all this? Have so many of us allowed the Rush Limbaugh’s, FOX, and NRA manipulators to ingrain fear into their lives. . . so much so that the family of human beings is willingly propelled into a war with one another. . . just for the greedy “profit” in selling guns or a political fanaticism?

I honestly saw a tee shirt on an over weight American young man today. It proudly proclaimed in bold letters: LUST! GLUTTONY! GREED! HATE! BRING IT ON! Is this what we are now celebrating as citizens of the USA? Is this the proud message that represents us to the people of other countries?

We can rise above the prejudice into which many of us were born and raised. . . most certainly, I was. We can open our eyes and ears to the propaganda of the media that bombards us daily with agendas that divide us. We all know that negative emotional triggers such as strife, violence, controversy, scandal and sex sells papers and TV time, and unfortunately peace and prosperity does not seem to satisfy the salacious desires of many. We can reclaim our own independence as intelligent citizens and live/act in a way that reflects our personal decisions, born of our own educated values and research.

We can, with great courage, turn the tide and embrace our common humanity by being open to exploring and loving all that is “the same” between us. . . our insecurities and our frailties, as well as our triumphs and successes. We are all brothers and sisters of the one and only “Human Race”. . . isn’t it about time we started to treat one another as such?

“LUST! GLUTTONY! GREED! HATE! BRING IT ON! Is this what we are now celebrating as citizens of the USA? ” That sucks! No where nearly as funny as my “ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS. GREAT! WHO BROUGHT THE CHIPS” T-Shirt I have. And about as relevant as worrying that this case influences the Worlds opinion of our country more than a Hellfire missile fired into a schoolhouse in Waziristan

I used to think that the Racial thing was overplayed. I swore that the main dividing line in this country was class. If you were poor, you would have a way better chance of being incarcerated than if you were rich, Black or White. After all, nobody called Bill Cosby a Nigger after he made his first million. Still true to the extent that if you have to rely on a Public Defender, your ass is going to jail. But I have come to realize that there is a proportional and consistent difference. Regardless of the times or situation, Blacks will always get the shorter end of the Justice stick, especially down here in the South.

And as far as the debate on whether Zimmerman was White, Hispanic or whatever, I find it absolutely unsurprising that nobody said he was neither. Fact is George Zimmerman was Jewish. And while you have been told everything about Trevon from his GPA to his Tweets, you have not once been told that Georgie’s father was a Judge in Virginia and currently works for the Virginia Supreme Court. Or that he is a major fundraiser for the Virginia Republican Party and the AIPAC (American Israeli Political Action Committee). Or that he had gotten his boy out of at least three different scrapes with the law, including Felony Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer. All somehow drooped and the record sealed. And that his father made three phone calls to the Sanford Police the night of Treyvons murder. Or he would have been a gunless felon. Look it up, it’s all true.

But why didn’t the Prosecution bring this up? Probably the same reason they couldn’t find one Black person to serve on the Jury in Sanford. Why they didn’t argue when the Judge said no Audio Experts would be allowed to testify about who’s voice was on the tape. If you listen, one thing I’m sure of is that the evenly modulated and constant uninterrupted sound of this desperate plea wasn’t someone getting his head beat off a sidewalk, or the one beating that head. Funny the Prosecution never notice this. Why did they lay down like this when they prosecute every other case like they were putting away Charles Mansons CRAZY brother? Because the fix was in from day one. The words Stand Your Ground were never once mentioned by either side, just Self-Defense.

It is and has been exploited for what it is. A tragedy worthy of Shakespeare that has no hero or victor, except for our Rulers who use it to divide us for their own benefit. And we don’t have the sense to disappoint them even once.

amazing how many give a pass to violence and bigotry in this whole thing. they give a pass to martin in it it wa ok for his bigotry to see a creepy azz cracker, or a stalker or other things some say about zimmermans actions that where non violent to justify Martint violent actions on Zimmerman. It was OK for both Martin and Zimmerman to be in and do what each di until the phisical attack. at that point it was leagal for Zimmerman to defend himself. ALL the evidence points to the fact that Martin was on top thus he was in the dominant fighting stance. But I guss he should have just laid there and let martin give him a azz beating and maybe kill him while doing so.

I’m white and I drive a big truck, I feel discriminated against by black people thinking I’m some white trash honky who hates black people. The racial profiling goes both ways white black or Chinese, it doesn’t matter. You say Trayvon wanted to get home, he should have kept walking… This whole situation has gotten way out of control. You can’t pick and choose what child that lost their life is more important than others, if you want to make a big deal of one, then make a big deal of them all.

Everyone has to have “that talk” it’s called being an upstanding citizen and being respectful to others and people of authority. You say “blacks” get profiled more, I say BS. I can’t even count how many times as a young white kid, that I was followed around dept stores by loss prevention people. Does that mean I was racially profiled by the white man?? No!! It means that someone is doing their job. It means that a “white” boy looked suspicious and they looked into it. Even though I didn’t do anything wrong, that’s their job. This whole topic of racial this, hate crimes that, can and will go on for centuries to come until people come to realize the its about your actions, your demeanor that gets you profiled not your skin color.

Anonymous–Well, None so blind as those who refuse to see… I can’t even believe that someone would be so determined to discount the feelings of minorities and the challenges they face than to state that the mere concept of Black people getting profiled more than White people is B.S.. Seriously??? If you were followed around as a White kid in a Department store for no reason other than the fact that you were a kid, that’s bad enough. There are PLENTY of adult shoplifters around. I am certain they didn’t specifically follow you around because you were White. It is a ridiculous comparison.